Data communication systems exchange user data for User Equipment (UE) to provide various data communication services. The UEs may be phones, computers, media players, intelligent machines, and the like. The data communication services might be media streaming, video conferencing, machine-to-machine data transfers, internet access, or some other data communication service.
Data communication systems use wireless base stations to extend the range of their communication services and enable user mobility. The wireless base stations perform wireless networking tasks like device handovers, radio interference management, and multipoint coordination. In Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, the wireless base stations are evolved Node Bs (eNodeBs).
To extend the wireless footprint even more, wireless repeaters are used in between the wireless base stations and the UEs. A wireless repeater receives a wireless signal from a UE and then amplifies, filters, and retransmits the signal for receipt by the wireless base station or another wireless repeater. Likewise, a wireless repeater receives a wireless signal from the wireless base station. The wireless repeater amplifies, filters, and retransmits the signal for receipt by the UE or another wireless repeater. Chains or sequences of wireless repeaters are often used to cover roadways and trails with wireless data communication service.
The wireless base stations locate the UEs for emergency services and other tasks. Part of this location process includes the determination of a distance from the wireless base station to the UE. Typically, a fine distance is determined by performing a Round Trip Delay (RTD) test and multiplying half of the RTD by the speed of light (RTD/2*C). Unfortunately, the wireless relay chain makes it difficult to locate the UE using RTD. Due to internal processing delays in the wireless repeaters, current UE location techniques using RTD may not be accurate. The lack of UE location accuracy in wireless repeater chains inhibits the delivery of the emergency services and the performance of other tasks.